From the Ashes
by DMarEssence
Summary: After the death of her master, Aira Kamissa leaves the Jedi order and her friend Obi-wan Kenobi. Nine years later, the Council calls her back for a mission that would give her the opportunity to exact her revenge. OC/Obi-wan Friendship.
1. Chapter 1

Kay, I'm obsessed with Star Wars now

Kay, I'm obsessed with Star Wars now. I watched all six movies over the summer ('07) and then I read like, up to book 14 in the Jedi Apprentice books about Obi-wan, and then I read a ton of fan-fics and stuff, so now I'm all hyped to write one of my own! Hopefully it's a one-shot, but it probably won't be... but I hope it is 'cause I suck at closure.

"You never should have interfered with our ways, Jedi," the man sneered, the look of terror on the Jedi's apprentice was hardly enough to feed his blood lust. There were plenty of Jedi there at the moment, so why him? Why her master? Padawan Obi-wan Kenobi and his master Qui-gon Jinn stood in the same restrained state as Aira, her black hair hanging in her face and tears leaking past her normally composed Jedi reserve. The large man was torturing her master, Jedi Knight Larkin Demir, but at the same time, it felt like he was torturing her. He had severed their mind link so that she would not feel his pain like it was her own, although the loss of mental contact was driving her to the brink of insanity; as though without this mental connection, she was lost. She constantly attempted to send messages to him, but to no avail. She only saw the butt of the gun come down repeatedly on her master's body. She was helpless, and even now, all her knowledge of the Force had left her, empty, dry; like being in a desert without water. Two large Togorians restrained each Jedi, and Aira continued to curse and curse her stupidity. If it weren't for her, she wouldn't even be in this mess, but now the reason all their lives were at risk, was her. The guilt that had mounted on her even before her Master had arrived with Qui-gon and Obi-wan to save her, and she knew nothing good would come of it. Her Force-sensitivity was like none ever measured, with mitochlorians that rivaled even Yoda's, but all of her training and years at the temple would hardly prepare her for what was about to occur, and she felt desperation creep up her spine like an invisible shadow that stalked her in the very deepest, darkest corner of her mind.

Padawan Aira Kamissa a humanoid Sorrusian and her human Master Demir, a large man with a whiskery beard, and smiling blue eyes, had arrived on Adari for a routine check on the system's shipping lanes, but the trip turned out to be anything but routine. It appeared the Adarian government, which was supposed to be trading peacefully within the Republic, was actually endorsing slave labor on a remote planet out of the range of the Republic's law, and therefore, breached their treaty of neutrality. Although the Jedi Council had sent aid to them, Aira was captured by one of the most notorious slave traders in the galaxy by the name of Krayn. Her master had come to rescue her, and another innocent Jedi and his Padawan had been entangled in her mess. And now they were here. Once more, she'd felt trapped and wanted a place to hide in her shame, but her boundless emotions got the better of her, and her fury against the injustice of slave traders ran like an animal without restraint. When she didn't fight it, her better judgment became a mere whisper in the back of her subconscious, but right now, no matter what she tried, she could not escape.

With one final sound; one that would ring in Aira's ears forever was that of the gun going off... again, and again and again into the chest of her Master, the man who'd been like a father to her since she was twelve, the man who'd taught her everything she knew about the Force, the Jedi, the world, herself. And now, blood was pooling beneath him, running down the incline of the sewer towards Aira's feet and only her deafening scream of anguish penetrated the moist stone of the ominous cavern and echoed through the tunnels like an eerie bell, bearing the news of an untimely murder. The events after became a blur in her memory, as gunshots once more filled the dark halls that entrapped her in this prison of masochism and pain. Back up had come, but only after Krayn had avoided custody and disappeared into the unknown blackness of the ground beneath their feet. This left only the Adarian police, the now dead Togorian guards, a master and his padawan, and a girl, now staring at the shattered remains of her former self through the unblinking eyes of a corpse, which gazed blatantly and without remorse. He was a good person, the girl Aira thought. He would find the Force when his soul left. Not like her. She could only hope that her soul would become one with the living Force after she died, but she knew better. After this, the Force would condemn her soul to an eternity of separation from redemption and release. Hell would no longer be invisible to her, for hell had come to earth. At this point, all Aira could see and feel was the dark.

"Aira? Can you hear me?" a soft voice found her asylum buried deep under her Force mind shields that she'd unconsciously constructed after her trauma.

"Aira, many people are worried about you. Do you know who I am?" The gentle voice of the older man once more probed her mind, which was steadily coming back to reality, the place where she most wanted to escape from.

"I can hear you Master Qui-gon Jinn," she responded monotonously, her luminous green eyes now dulled to a shimmer, and her normally pink face drained of color. Unlike normal humans, Aira was Sorrusian, and because of this, it decreased not only her intense unflinching reaction time, but also gave her mind blowing flexibility, and she enjoyed this aspect of her culture by cramming herself in small spaces when she was scared or feeling particular melancholy.

_"Come on Aira, you cannot let fear control you. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate and hate-" _

_"-leads to the Dark Side, yes I know master," Aira chimed in response to one of Yoda's ultimate tomes. She had a good reason to be afraid. She'd been confronted by a notorious defected Jedi by the name of Xanatos, who had turned one of her best friends, Bruck Chun against the Jedi order, nearly killing a Jedi initiate named Bant, and assassinating Master Yoda. _

_"Perhaps you would like to meditate on this? Your idea of hiding is not becoming. What will you do when there's no place to hide?" Master Demir's voice became sterner as he chided his padawan gently. _

_"I'm not hiding! Hiding is for small children who cannot come to terms with their fears," Aira retorted, trying to defend herself. Even at fifteen, Aira was a formidable Jedi opponent who often did harsh training sessions with initiated knights, and found herself lifting objects as big as speeders and people when she was meditating. But the confrontation of Bruck's alleged fall to his death had her on the brink of sadness, because Jedi were supposed to have control of their emotions, and she would not let this facade slip. _

_"You have been a victim of a terrible accident Aira. Please let me calm you. Your friend's death will not vanish, for becoming one with the Force is inevitable for all Jedi," her Master spoke wisely, reaching out his hand to pull his padawan out from underneath the sleep couch. _

_"But master, what about Jedi like Xanatos? He was Qui-gon Jinn's apprentice, was he not? Will he become one with the Force because he has accepted the Dark Side? What then becomes of those who accept the Dark Side? Do we not believe as Jedi that people get second chances?" Aira spouted out all those questions that had been meaning to explode from her for sometime. She was curious as to where Bruck's soul had gone. He had joined Xanatos, a Jedi who had turned from the order and chaos had ensued him not matter where he tread. Bruch too, had embraced the Dark Side. Even though he sometimes bullied the other students like Obi-wan, Garen, Bant, he was still a Jedi... and a good person. She didn't want to see his life essence stranded forever without peace. _

_"My, my padawan, it seems your mind is teeming with questions. We will discuss this after our visit to the Council." Aira's dark expression of her dwelling on death became that of curiosity. _

_"Where are we going master?" she sounded a bit stronger, her voice filled with exuberance at the mention of the council. _

_"Another mission, but this one will be fun. We're going to Naboo for a few days. Something about teaching you the history of peace," Larkin smirked down at his apprentice, who smiled eagerly back at him, all traces of distresses seemingly gone. _

_"Is it like a vacation then?" _

_"Come now Aira! Jedi don't take vacations!" _

Right now, the only thing surrounding her was the emptiness of a space that once felt secure. She was hiding under her Master's sleep couch, curled up in an unnatural Sorrusian position. Qui-gon was trying in vain to reach her mind which was guarded by multitudes of frantic emotion that Aira did not try to quell. Instead, she tried calling out to her own Master, and only received a hollow feeling in return.

"_Master?... Master?...Master?"_ her voice echoed in the empty void that was once filled with her master's glowing warmth.

"Aira, please come with me to the infirmary. After you will proceed to the Council chambers."

"I will follow," she responded once more, her voice toneless and lacking in emotions. Although she much would have liked to remain wallowing in her own misery, a Jedi Master had given her an order, and she was required to oblige.

"I know this must be hard for you, Aira, but at one point or another, all master's leave their apprentices-"

"Or are torn ruthlessly from their padawan's grasp by vicious murderers who didn't even give their life a second thought," Aira added fittingly. While only the idea of vengeance pulsed through her veins, she could feel the actuality of the death creeping up on her, and as she walked through the lively hallways of the Jedi temple where bustling initiatives ran to their next classes, and padawans of various ages scurried to reunited with their masters, the realization became apparent and tears rolled unconventionally down Aira's already sullen face as she and Qui-gon stood amid that vast hallway, filled with life and spirit. Unlike her. Qui-gon immediately sensed the breaking point of Demir's padawan and reached gently out to her with his own mental connection. Unfortunately for him, her mind was so well guarded that the instant his essence breached her own, a jolt of repulsion and disgust found its way into Qui-gon. He never imagined the girl would feel so much unrelenting self-hatred, over a situation that, although caused death, wasn't her fault in the least. Along with her emotions came an unwanted and unintentional blast of some of Aira's unbridled Force sensitivity that sent Qui-gon's mind reeling with pain. Upon realizing what she'd done, Aira decided to make herself disappear. She only caused suffering, and now, she had to get away from this phantom she'd become. And to do so, she ran, fast and furiously down the hallway, causing young, unwitting initiates to be blown aside by Aira's pain and torment, which had given way to an emotional melt down. She made her way to the room of a Thousand Fountains where she collapsed near one of the glittering pools and dug her nails into the dirt, begging some unknown entity for unrequited forgiveness.

"Dear Force, forgive me for all the things I've done, please! I'm not a bad person I promise! I didn't mean for any of this to happen!" she repeated like a mantra to the silent waters that rippled discontinuously to the beach. Qui-gon had alerted the Council immediately of Padawan Kamissa's mental state and had advised caution. He'd ordered his own padawan, Obi-wan to wait for him in their quarters because of the delicate nature of Aira's being at the moment. Soon, Jedi presences filled Aira's Force awareness and she proceeded to crawl up in a ball, what she was prone to do in states of fear.

"Fear leads to anger, anger to hate, hate to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the Dark side..." she repeated, tears flowing freely now, blurring her vision and, although her powers were no longer in her control, she couldn't help but scream, frustrated at her helplessness. A shudder of discomfort rang out in the Light Force and caused the water of the fountains to stop... the water flowed back into its source and over flooded the pools. Not long after, Aira's still form was surrounded by water. An eighteen year old with as much Force power as Aira packed a pretty mean punch when her emotions ran unchecked.

"Unpredictable, her emotions have become. Caution we must proceed with," Yoda, the small, wrinkled master whispered to the three Jedi who had accompanied him. Adi Gallia, Qui-gon, and Mace Windu, the only Jedi other than himself who Aira was close to.

"Aira, it's me, Adi. Siri is worried about you. Please don't do this to yourself," the master coaxed, her chocolately smooth voice wrung in Aira's ears as she stood up, wiped the tears from her eyes, released the water back into the fountains, and wrung out her hair.

"M-my apologies masters. Perhaps I should meditate on the extremity and unconventionality of my mental state-" Aira began to stutter but was interrupted by Yoda.

"Meditate on this, you will not. Find your master in the Force you must. Closure, you must receive from this."

"Yes Master," Aira agreed, then looked guiltily up into the face of Qui-gon, who she had unintentionally attacked with her mental connection.

"If I may apologize first to Master Jinn, whom I may have inadvertently injured with my-"

"Apology not necessary Padawan Kamissa. Now I suggest you return to your room and consider what Master Yoda has said."

"I'm afraid I can no longer be called a Padawan, for I am without a master," Aira laughed, wrapping her cloak around her as she headed for the room that she'd shared with her master for five years. There, she entered the 'fresher and cleansed herself before reaching out to her master as instructed.

_"I am lost Master, please guide me," _Aira pleaded, reaching out into the Force and searching vainly for her master's presence.

_"I am here Aira. Why have you returned to me?"_

_"Do you still love me after all I've done to you? Will I become one with the Force when I die, as you have Master?"_ Her master's voice sounded so far away, and her eyes began to tear in her meditation.

"_These same questions again, my apprentice?" _Larkin Demir laughed at her child-like curiosity.

_"Yes, But I must know!" _Aira pleaded helplessly, feeling her master's essence fading quickly.

_"All you need to know is that I am at peace, and as your master, I am ordering you to free yourself of this guilt I feel that you've unrightfully bestowed upon you. It is not your burden my padawan, so do not carry it so heavily,"_ Demir's voice faded farther and farther until it was only the Force that filled Aira and she was left wanting.

"Obi-wan, you were close to Padawan Kamissa, were you not?" Qui-gon inquired of his padawan the day after the cremation as they strode through the Temple gardens, discussing Aira and her unfortunate, undecided fate. It had been two weeks since the murder and Aira seemed to be returning to normal, well, as normal as she could be after what happened.

"We never had classes together. Her Force sensitivity placed her with students more advanced, not to mention she's older than me to begin with. Why do you ask master?" Qui-gon contemplated how best to phrase his response, hoping that Obi-wan would WANT to reach out to this distressed girl only a year older than himself.

"She has told the Council that she is at peace with her master's passing, but I can feel her unrest. She is anxious on what the Council will decide to do with her." Qui-gon began stroking his beard, a nervous habit he'd picked up from Aira's master... when he still had a beard.

"You wish me to confront her about this?" the young padwan asked, hoping that was not his master's intention. He knew Aira had been friends with Bruck, and he of course, had witnessed Bruck's fall from that terrible height and could still hear the snapping of his neck from all those years ago.

"Not at all Obi-wan. I ask you only to converse with her. Loneliness is not what she needs at this dark hour, and any solace she might find in a friendship with you would be comforting, to me at least," Qui-gon added, resting a hand on his padawan's shoulder for motivation.

"I will speak with her," Obi-wan agreed begrudgingly. He'd heard rumors about what she did in the room of a Thousand Fountains, and had accidentally seen the mental blow she'd inflicted upon his master in her time of stress and began to regard the meeting of the unbalanced Aira with reverence and wariness.

When Obi-wan knocked on Aira's door a few hours later, he heard the blow of a tissue and the washing of hands before a scramble could be heard to get to the door.

"Oh! Kenobi! I did not expect any visitors," Aira began. Obi-wan could tell from her appearance that she looked disheveled and had clearly been in tears only moments before he'd arrived.

"Please call me Obi-wan, and I'm sorry for interrupting. Are you certain you're all right?"

"Oh, yes, thank you for asking. Everyone's been constantly checking on my well being, and it's gotten annoying to say the least. But I'm glad you came. It was thoughtful." Obi-wan nodded absent-mindedly and walked into the room which had been previously filled with clutter of notes and data pads from missions, and from lessons, as well as the unmistakable presence of a man. Now it appeared more like a museum; spotless, void of the quirky, natural litter that made it seem more human. Not to be racist, Obi-wan thought, but it seems almost alien. It was clear Aira had discarded very quickly anything that would bring about her master's memory.

"Obi-wan, have a seat. What is it you came to talk to me about?" she wondered briefly. Obi-wan was almost surprised at her almost hospitable etiquette. Normally he'd regarded Aira as a cold and calculating, flexible and undoubtedly adequate opponent, but now she seemed almost cheerful. It was disconcerting, to say the least.

"My master and I were wondering, since your status has been postponed if you would accompany us on a mission-"

"Excuse me for interrupting Obi-wan, but my status is unfrozen. As of tomorrow, I'm to be transported off of Coruscant back to my home world of Sorrus. There is nothing to be done," she stated, and Obi-wan had a hard time deciphering the emotion she felt towards the Council at this point.

"I know what you are thinking, and no, I am not in any way displeased with the Council's request," Aira continued, sitting down beside Obi-wan and casting her eerie glowing green eyes at him.

"Request? You mean they asked you to leave?" Obi-wan asked in disbelief. Although he'd never admit it aloud, he'd always admired Aira for being one of the most formidable apprentices he'd seen, and often adhered to her with respect. Why in the world would the Jedi ask her to leave? Stranger still, why did she agree?

"Going back to Sorrus would be best, you must believe that. If I were to stay here, I would have to become a knight, which is unlikely. I will take my master's memories to Sorrus and rebuild my life in the capital. At this point, no other master could be chosen for me, and I feel my training is not yet complete," Aira answered, responding to Obi-wan's question, but leaving him unsatisfied.

"But why not stay here? Receive instructions from the teachers, or work in the creche-" Obi-wan began. He couldn't imagine giving up his Jedi life for anything, especially if it was his choice. He'd nearly not been chosen to become a Jedi, and if not for some unpredicted circumstances that helped him gain the trust of Qui-gon Jinn, (who was still feeling the undeniable sting of betrayal from his old apprentice, Xanatos) he would not be a Jedi at all.

"Those lives are not for me. If I cannot become a Jedi knight, then it is no longer worth the effort," Aira said definitely, hoping Obi-wan would not pry further.

"Surely there is something to be done?"

"Obi-wan, I do not mean disrespect, but when you have happen to you what happened to me, I'll listen to you tell me that you would rather stay. But for me, being here brings to many memories to the surface and in truth, I could never love or feel the same about any other like I did my master. Never again will I feel this deep attraction that is rooted in the Force. Perhaps one day... no... definitely one day you _will_ know how I feel, but until that day comes, I will hear no more of this talk about remaining here at the Temple. My decision won't change," Aira reiterated. Obi-wan only nodded. He remembered how broken up she'd been after the death, and now, she was making a huge decision, and of course Obi-wan couldn't change it, but that didn't mean he had to accept it.

"Whatever you feel is best Kamissa," he replied softly, standing up and heading out of her quarters.

"Come now Obi-wan. Please call me Aira."


	2. Chapter 2

This is the second installment... hopefully shorter than the last (and definitely the last chapter) in this little short series called Ashes! All about my own made up Star Wars character named Aira Kamissa, and if you haven't read the first one, please do! This one takes place nine years later.

A few things to know: Obi-wan was seventeen in my last one, so now he's twenty six, Aira was eighteen, so now she's twenty seven!

Qui-gon Jinn has been dead for three years. Anakin is nine when he's picked up on Tatooine, and at the start of my story, he's twelve.

Nine Years Later

A tall, slender Sorrusian woman stood on the landing pad of one of the numerous Sorrusian hangars, waiting for her transport. While she'd avoided going to Coruscant, the planet all covered in city, stench, and bad memories, she'd received a call from a client that was eagerly awaiting her skills. Aira Kamissa wore her once long black hair trimmed short and practical, yet still beautiful in it's simplicity around her face, complementing her bright green eyes that shone unnaturally in the smoldering Sorrusian sun. She had long discarded her Jedi attire after returning to Sorrus and now wore a slimming purple uni-suit with her blasters strapped to her back, and her and her old master's light sabers attached firmly to her hip. When most of her clients inquired about them, she'd merely regarded them as trophies, and refused to say more. Ever since her master had been brutally murdered in front of her, Aira had avoided any talk or reference to her previous life as a Jedi, though trying to fit back into the xenophobic environment that awaited her on Sorrus after she'd chosen to leave the Temple was difficult. Finding herself in wanting a means to live by, she used her honed Jedi skills and heightened Force sensitivity to establish a name for herself as a hired mercenary. Bounty hunters were easy enough to come by, but mercenaries were the elite, and Aira took great pride, no, great satisfaction in her work, even when it treaded on the shadowy line of legality.

Hyperdrive had always been Aira's least favorite thing about traveling to other planets. Coruscant was three parsecs away from Sorrus, so the ride wouldn't be too terrible, though the avoided confrontation of her dead past left on the planet had made Aira skittish.

"We'll be landing in three minutes miss. Perhaps you'd like to take your seat?" the man servicing the transport asked politely. Aira responded with a curt nod and sat down in the leather backed comfort of first class as she watched the endless Coruscanti sky-line pass beneath the wings of the shuttle. Once on the ground, Aira was greeted by the thick air of an industrial planet, much the opposite of Sorrus. Pulling out her contact pad, Aira flipped through the coded locations that her employer had sent her, and she scanned the sheet quickly. Didi's Cafe, a well known and dodgy joint that held conspirators, criminals and senators alike. A good place to blend in.

Taking a seat against the wall in one of the corners of the crowded restaurant, Aira politely ordered a concoction of freela and pomegranate juice as she waited. Her Jedi instincts that had never quite left her allowed her to listen to numerous conversations at once, but also made her suspicious of every action and motive. How could people live so ridiculously and recklessly? If her previous training had taught her anything, it's that she was gifted to judge and meditate on every little irksome thing she found in humans and aliens alike.

Waiting was Aira's least favorite game after hyperdrive. Of course, she decided that if no one showed up within twenty minutes of the rendezvous, that she was probably being hoodwinked, set-up or cheated, and would leave. She never got the opportunity. A person wearing a dark brown cloak entered the boisterous atmosphere of the bar, though they seemed tentative. Aira watched interested. The man, Aira deduced, judging by his stiff demeanor and bulkier appearance... no, perhaps a boy, walked into the midst of the carousers and sat at an empty table hesitantly. He was waiting for someone. _My cue,_ Aira told herself, slipping gracefully and unnoticed towards the stranger, who she assumed was her client.

"Can I buy you a drink, sir?" she asked politely, pulling up a mismatched chair next to the cloaked boy.

"I don't accept drinks from strangers," the boy recited and soon, Aira realized she'd made a mistake. _God it looks like I just hit on some ten year old!_ Aira scolded herself for being so impatient and calmly took a seat next to the boy as not to arouse suspicion. Letting her attention slip, Aira was brought back into the cafe when the boy spoke.

"Are you the Sorrusian merc?" he asked curiously, which sparked not only Aira's interest, but also suspicion.

"And you would know this how?" she retorted, her eyes smiling with amusement.

"I'm the one in need of your services." Aira didn't gawk, but her mind drew a blank. This was not the voice she heard on the comlink. This kid was young, and he probably knew little about what was going on.

"Look kid-"

"I'm not a kid!" the boy responded stubbornly.

"Yeah, what are you, ten?"

"Twelve! And a Jedi!" Aira once again caught her tongue before saying anything stupid.

"Jedi eh? And what would you want with the likes of me?" Aira had scooted closer to the boy and rested her chin on her hand as she awaited the boy's response.

"To arrest you." The curiosity and amusement left Aira's emerald eyes in an instant, and while she knew her escape would be hasty and drastic, she wouldn't involve unnecessary lives. Forgetting completely about the boy, Aira, trying not to arouse discontent, stood quickly up and headed towards the kitchen. Thankfully, she'd honed her skills at Jedi mind tricks instead of letting them slip, and made her way safely to the back of the restaurant. Funny that no one had been guarding it... too funny. Taking caution of what might be on the other side, Aira slipped her lithe, Sorrusian body through the tight space of the cracked window that normally would've restrained anyone else's escape. Of course, what... who she met on the other side was the most surprising.

"Why is it that Sorrusians always take the back door?" Aira stopped at the voice, which in its own way sounded foreign, but also familiar. Knowing she was caught however, Aira put her hands up to indicate her surrender, and then proceeded to grin.

"And how many Sorrusians have you met over the last nine years Obi-wan, save the crazy one that attempted to kill you and your master oh, how long ago?"

"Twelve years. No doubt she was a relative of yours," Obi-wan Kenobi, now Jedi knight responded casually, removing the blaster from Aira's back holster... and the leg holster, and the one on the outside of her thigh.

"For someone who used to be a Jedi, you really didn't have your wits about you today Aira," Obi-wan remarked as he clipped the handcuffs securely around the mercenary's wrists.

"Well, I was a little thrown off by the kid in the bar. You'll have to work on him Obi-wan. I don't think I could've found anyone more obvious," Aira laughed at her sticky situation, testing the stability of the handcuffs before mentally noting their weakness, and taking her time to plan the perfect escape. Glancing around awkwardly, Aira followed Obi-wan to the speeder.

"Obi-wan," she hissed, trying to get him to look at her.

"What is it Aira?"

"You _will _let me go," she said firmly, pulling all her Force sensitivity to her and trying to persuade Obi-wan with a mind trick. It didn't work.

"Aira, are you honestly trying to influence me with a mind trick? That doesn't even affect academy level students," Obi-wan chuckled insulted.

"I wouldn't know, but is it working?" Aira asked light-heartedly. Something in Obi-wan's face changed in that instant, and Aira sensed it.

"Something wrong?" she asked, hopping without help into the back of the speeder without a second thought.

"No, just something you told me once," Obi-wan reminisced, and Aira groaned inwardly. What was he getting at? Couldn't he just get in the speeder so she could escape?

"Well?"

"It's nothing."

"Then what are we waiting for? An okay from the senate? Let's get back to the police station!" Aira hopped up in her seat with false excitement.

"You've changed quite a lot since you left," Obi-wan stated bluntly. Those short words came down hard on Aira as she realized, in his eyes, she must be a complete failure. Not that she cared, it just... was.

"If you must know, we're waiting for my apprentice. He couldn't quite squeeze through the window as you could. Ah, here he comes now." Aira flipped her head around to see the same boy jogging up to the speeder, glaring at her with the demeanor only a twelve year old Jedi could muster.

"We meet again," the Sorrusian woman chuckled devilishly, relishing in the padawan's discomfort. They rode the rest of the way back to the temple in silence.

"Ahem, Obi-wan, you um, I don't know, missed the station... where I'm supposed to go to prison, for killing people? Remember?" the confused look in Aira's quizzical green eyes made Obi-wan remember the lightness of her youth before her master had died. Most of the masters at the temple still considered it to the biggest tragedy of their time... and Yoda had seen a lot of tragedy.

"I never said we were going to turn you in," the Jedi master glanced over his shoulder to see the look of horror in Aira's face.

"So this whole thing was a set up to get me back to the temple... I should've known," Aira glowered forward in her seat, testing the strength of her handcuffs. Slipping her flexible wrists through the tight metal, she sighed and glanced reluctantly out the window. "You do know that as soon as we get there, all that's going to happen is a bunch of old geezers are going to chew me out... then bribe me with my dignity in return for a favor... which I smell is coming. But speaking of geezers, how's Qui-gon, I mean, the guys gotta be pushing sixty-"

"He's dead," Obi-wan stated blandly continuing to stare out the windshield of the craft and into the traffic as the temple approached with each passing second.

"Oh... I'm so sorry," Aira said with sincere remorse in her voice as she reached up and patted Obi-wan on the shoulder with her free hand, and glancing over at Anakin who gaped at her self-induced freedom. Thinking back a moment, Aira realized that Obi-wan was probably going to get on her case about what she'd said to him all those years ago... about the decision she made after her master died- was murdered and how he had taken a different path and it had led him to a great place in his life. Whoop dee freakin' doo.

"Aira! A long time since I've last seen you, it has been," Jedi Master Yoda recited, nodding for Anakin to release their captive from the handcuffs.

"A little late for that, shorty," Aira teased, dangling the limp metal from her fingers which were singed and scarred by the burning hot recoil of a standard blaster. Obi-wan noted a change in the Sorrusian's voice and tone. It no longer hinted to a perfect temple upbringing, but instead sounded un-aristocratic and riddled with slang. Her perfect human accent had become marred with Sorrusian and merc tonal qualities, and left Obi-wan in an unfamiliar frame of mind when he listened too intently to her voice.

"Yoda," Aira acknowledged loftily, allowing her eyes to wander around the walls of the Temple. So much had changed, and at the same time, nothing had. Same walls, same chipped paint and old bricks needing new sealant; same old Jedi motto ticking relentlessly in the back of the student's minds... but the students themselves. Last time Aira was here, it was her and Bant and Obi-wan and Bruck running around, challenging each other to fights and flinging bland, imported cafeteria food in each other's faces. Now it was a new, motley crew including Anikan's generation. _How Nostalgic,_ Aira thought sarcastically, crossing her freed arms and waiting for the old, wrinkly green Jedi master to cut to the chase.

"Later, talk we shall, but for now, you may eat," Yoda nodded curtly to Obi-wan who attempted to usher the resistant Aira toward the mess hall.

"I don't mean to be rude but-"

"Then don't be," Anikan offered, blocking the now irritated Sorrusian from speaking with the master before he hobbled out of sight.

"Of course!" Aira exclaimed somewhat exasperated. She didn't come here to chit chat. _Now that I think about it, why did I come here at all?_

"We would like you to inspect the trade routes to Nar Shadaa," stated Jedi councilman Mace Windu as Obi-wan, Anikan and Aira (looking slightly bored and uninterested in the whole affair; stripped of her weapons, but still managing to cop an attitude) stood in the middle of the council room, awaiting their mission.

"Why do we need her for this?" Anikan interrupted obtrusively, earning him a warning glance from his master.

"I agree with the kid. What use am I gonna be on a routine trade-"

"We believe the notorious pirate and slave trader Krayn is interfering with normal routes. You'll be escorting a Colicoid ship as ambassadors. Your transport leaves tomorrow." Aira's eyes narrowed in recognition to the name.

"You still haven't answered my question." At the completely detached tone in Aira's voice, Obi-wan stood appalled that his former Jedi role model could be so absent in emotion when dealing with the killer of her master. No one spoke for a moment before Yoda continued.

"Undercover, you will be Kamissa. Infiltrate the pirate defenses you must."

"I never agreed to this. Besides, what're we gonna do if we find Krayn, huh? Slap him on the wrists and bring him back here for a fake trial that he'll buy his way out of? Believe me, I've done it a hundred times-"

"Well, it's either us or them," Windu nodded towards the door where six Togorian police were waiting to 'escort' Aira away in case she refused the case.

"Geez, I didn't realize the Jedi were so big into coercion and press ganging," the Sorrusian cursed silently at her bad luck and conceded to the mission.

"God I hate hyper-speed," Aira clasped the arms of her seat in a violent grip until the stars came into view a few moments later at a closer range. Whew. Nar Shadaa at last. The council had decided to send Aira under cover as a mine inspector, of whom Krayn would have to impress, lest Aria Assimak (Aira's new alias) shut the plant down and ruin the operation. She was, however, impersonating a bought off official who, due to regulations, was scheduled to appear on behalf of the workers guild, or course, the reports were all falsified, to which Aira approved haughtily. She had, in the last evening, spruced up her appearance and changed from a skin tight suit to a modest secretary uniform. No less than six hours of space flight later, Aira found her transport landing on a smog covered planet that made her slightly uneasy about landing. Never before had she seen such expanses of workers of all shapes and species. _I hate to act emotional, but I hope that Anikan and Obi-wan... they'll be fine. I have one goal and one goal only,_ Aira decided, refreshing her lifelong vendetta she'd pledged against Krayn that fateful day he'd killed the only person she'd recognized as a father her whole life. _I don't give a crap about what the Jedi say. If I see him, I WILL kill him,_ she promised herself as she made her way to the premiere building for visitors and honored guests at the top of the plantation where slaves were forbidden.

"Ah, you must be Aria," a tall, broad-chested humanoid strode forward; face riddled with scars and evidence of his many years in the profession of piracy. Aira's hand reached instinctively for her light saber, but only remembered that she was forbidden to even carry a blaster on the premises. Her saber, and her masters, were both concealed within her belongings, and she could access them later. But Krayn was in front of her. Right now. Surrounded by four thugs at least twice the Sorrusian's size. She was outmatched, but if she could get Krayn alone...

"That's me!" Aira chirped in response, following Krayn into the immaculate house, scowling at the close proximity between them. Each passing second, Aira's resentment and revulsion grew until she had to excuse herself from his presence.

"How long do you think this _inspection_ will take Ms. Aria?" the pirate king asked, his grey eyes impatient as he hurried about his business.

"It'll take as long as it'll take," Aira confirmed, trying to congeal the malice that dripped from each word directed at him.

"Take her to her room," Krayn barked to his Wookiee guard. _I'm going to loathe every second I'm here,_ Aira reassured her self pessimistically. As soon as she got to her room, she located her dual light sabers and tucked them in an easily accessible yet concealed place.

The mission was going on its second week. Aira had had to stomp around the grounds in goulashes with a clipboard as if appearing to do something. _Obi-wan, where the hell are you?_ Aira cursed her luck as she perused through the barracks writing down chicken scratch on her clipboard while being wary of the enormous Wookiee, Rashtah, who was following her (when he wasn't tailing stupidly behind Krayn). Dismissing Rashtah as she entered, Aira surveyed one of the grimy, cramped interiors; moldy wood smelling of rotten lumber and deterioration as well as rats and sewage, Aira cringed, that is, until she saw a familiar Jedi apprentice. He apparently saw her too. _What are they thinking? Putting that idiot boy under cover in a barrack? The Jedi council is faulty!_ Aira swiftly ducked out of the dingy hut just as Anikan had acknowledged her presence. _There's no WAY Obi-wan would have stuck him in such a dangerous situation... unless he was actually captured... which means rescue may or may NOT be coming! Those damn Jedi._ Aira attempted to keep her cool as Anikan raced out of the building after her. Keeping her inspector facade, Aira ignored him and kept walking.

"Hey, wait up!" the padawan called out, causing a foreboding sense of mistaken identity to creep up her spine.

"Your slave is addressing me far too informally," Aira noted, tipping down her fake, half-moon spectacles while she shook her head and scratched something down on her clipboard. "See that it doesn't happen again," Aira nodded to the Wookiee who slammed Anikan backwards and locked him in the dark confines of the barrack. _Poor kid. That's the last place I'd want to be._ Aira only hoped he made it out alive, because judging by the upkeep of this place, not many did.

"Watch where you're going!" Aira snapped as she navigated the complicated halls of the Agra Culpas building, making her way to her filing destination. The hooded figure, she deduced, had purposely stood his ground before she stepped into him, though she recognized his presence immediately.

"I'm going to kill you for being this late," Aira hissed barely audibly to Obi-wan, whose shear disguise would go unnoticed to most with Force sensitivity.

"Where is Anikan?" he asked hastily, casting his hooded eyes about the empty hallway as if to look inconspicuous.

"In the barracks. 103B6," Aira recited automatically, nodding to wish Obi-wan luck before they parted ways. It never got that far however, because a sudden siren blared loudly over the slave fields, signaling some sort of unrest. An uprising, both Jedi deduced. Nodding in silent agreement, Obi-wan fled downstairs to recollect his missing apprentice, while Aira headed upstairs to find the killer of her master, Jedi Knight Larkin Demir. _This will be my finest hour,_ Aira assured herself, glowing with the prospect of fresh, intoxicating revenge. What she found in the Pirate king, Krayn's office however, left her dismayed. It was empty. No trace signaled the notorious slave trader had even been there!

"DAMMIT!" Aira screamed, loud enough that it even penetrated through the ears of the Colicoids who were rising against their oppression below. Realizing she had little to no time left for vengeance, the Sorrusian leapt to her feet and thundered down the lift until she came face to face with a most satisfactory, yet heart wrenching scene. Anikan Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi's Padawn's light saber was hilt deep in the slave trader, Krayn's chest. The padawan wore a blank expression as though killing was nothing to him. In one single moment, it all became clear to Aira. She reached down through her cloak and gently brushed her fingers against the hilt of her own and her master's light sabers that she had retrieved from her room before the uprising and sighed. _Revenge would've meant nothing,_ Aira admonished, acknowledging the solemn padawan's face as he completed the kill and walked to meet his master with surprising calmness and dignity. Without meaning to, Aira had fallen to her knees, running her fingers through her short cut, black hair and holding tears back in her emerald eyes. _I almost killed him... and it would've meant nothing!_ So what if the Sorrusian had killed before? That was when she was a mercenary. That was when she was lost. Looking at the scene with a new eye, one that was not clouded with a malevolent intent, Aira allowed a lone tear to fall from her eye. She recalled Anikan's cold hearted reaction, and her heart lurched. Would she have reacted that way? Would it have been worth it? What would her master have said?

"_...don't all Jedi get second chances?"_

Though Obi-wan was concerned about his Padawan since their return from Nar Shadaa, but it was Aira he was worried about. Her whole demeanor had changed in that single instant she'd broken down and cried in front of him and his apprentice over Krayn's dead body. What had come over the merc? Her normally cocky and unattainable personality had washed away like the coming tide and been replaced with a much calmer presence, as though her Jedi composure was returning. _Perhaps she's found a new path,_ Obi-wan wondered, sticking his hands inside the sleeves of his robes as he proceeded through the halls of the temple, heading towards the council room. He stopped however by the crèche, when he noticed an extremely unthinkable sight. Aira, the sassy, Sorrusian hitman was cradling one of the youngest additions to the temple, cooing to it gently as she held the baby in her arms. A smile spread across Obi-wan's face as he walked into the council chambers and debriefed them on the mission... and on Aira's status.

"She applied for a position in the nursery the instant she returned from the mission," Master Windu explained of Aira, causing Obi-wan to relax even further.

"Go see her, you should," Master Yoda urged, gesturing the young knight towards the door and back the way he came.

"I never imagined babies could be so... tiny," Aira commented wistfully, stroking the head of a sleeping tot before facing Obi-wan. Her eyes... they were so much different from those of the girl he'd met only weeks before. They were filled with life and prosperity, as though the chains of revenge that bound her were now severed and she was free to live her life.

"Why the change?" Obi-wan asked slightly startled by Aira's new found redemption in the Jedi code.

"I visited the Room of a Thousand Fountains. My master came to me. He said: _'From each death, a new life rises from the ashes._' Somehow I knew I owed it to the temple, to the children," Aira whispered, gesturing to the cradles. "I couldn't keep living like I was Obi-wan. Looking back, I can't even recognize myself those last 10 years. It's... unreal."

"The proverbial phoenix," Obi-wan murmured as Aira surveyed the rest of her charges.

"I meditated a while yesterday. I was surprised I could still do it so fully, but there was this moment of awakening... and I realized I'd risen, out of the darkness, the ashes, and into the light." A slight pause built between the two Jedi, before Obi-wan spoke.

"Your master would be proud."

Okay, so I know Aira was so OOC at the end, but I had to wrap it up! Anywhos, tell me what you think please!


End file.
